Bronx Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Valuables from the Mail

Former postal worker admits to taking high-value collectibles and reselling them.

A former U.S. Postal Service employee has admitted to stealing parcels containing trading cards and sports memorabilia, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced. Shelby Dozier, 34, of the Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas to an Information charge for mail theft by a postal service employee.

Dozier was hired by the Postal Service in August 2022 as a sorting clerk and assigned to the Clifton Main Post Office. Shortly thereafter, parcels destined for a consignment auction house in Clifton (“Company-1”), which specializes in trading cards and sports collectibles, began to disappear. According to investigators, from September 2022 through December 2022, Dozier stole the contents of at least 10 parcels containing valuable items, which he resold to individual buyers or collectible stores.

As part of his plea agreement, Dozier agreed to pay $108,692.49 in restitution to the victims. The charge of theft of mail by a postal employee carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 or twice the gross amount of any financial gain from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for April 22, 2025.

Acting U.S. Attorney Khanna credited special agents of the United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modaferri (North East Area Field Office), and postal inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher Nielsen, for the investigation leading to Dozier’s plea. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas S. Kearney of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.